Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-09-06 | Page 4 | Labor Unions Celebrate

LABOR UNIONS CELEBRATE. 1 No day is more generally observed throughout the United States J than this day given over to organized labor, a fact which bears tes- I timony to the growth t the unions and tin- influence the labor bodies bod-ies are having on Ameriean life. II Twenty years aM Ogden knew liitle or nothing of Labor da'. I This morning there was an imposing parade and the citv put on s j holidav appearance for the first time this year. The unions have come to stay. They are the bulwarks of the workers, keeping hack the forces which would nol stop at fair dell de-ll mands but would grind them down to the condition of laborers when I unions were unknown. 1 Capitalists organize, and even without organization are tremen-I tremen-I dously powerful. Why should not labor be accorded the right to, J present an equally strong front, so that when the contest is on for advantage, neither class may be a law unto itself? I Abuses, now and then, do creep into labor unions, but the dell de-ll gree of wrongdoing cannot be much greater than is ehargeable OC- casionalh to big business. Both sides have the weaknesses to which j flesh is heir and it is well that there stands between them as a great 1 and just arbiter, the Law whose mandates must be respected and 1 obeyed. ;! Collective bargaining is exacting a living wage for all workers j brought within its influence, and millions of laborers, not members A of the unions, are being benefited by the men who pay their dues f and keep watchmen on the towers safeguarding the welfare of those I who toil. jj That the unions are essential to the maintaining of a fair stand- i ard of living is disclosed where workers are not organized. Wherever j the underpaid are found, wherever sanitary conditions arc mtoler- able, whereer there are extra hours exacted without compensation, J wherever the task master applies the lash, there you will find tin- in- dividual, who must struggle on to keep hunger from the dour. hope- I lessly incapable of improving his condition because, as an indnid- I ual and alone, he can 1"' displaced and disregarded. A genius maj I rise from undei those cfti&itions and a few cxtraordinarv workers I gain recognition t the point of being better paid, but the ordinary, i who make up the overwhelming body, are condemned to eke out a j& mere existence. The lifting up of that great mass of wurekrs should jf be the deei concern "t every thoughtful person who would bring J sunshine into all the homes of a land of plenty